BURN
by Tribeca
Summary: They had given in to the pretense of their verbal sparring and now found themselves in his bed. Fluff warning. *complete*


**A/N: I'm quick to slam the writers of TBBT for the multitude of screw-ups they have committed against the show and against Shenny. But it is in the spirit of fairness that I praise them for the near perfection of 6.17 (The Monster Isolation). Bravo, writers, Bravo! (For now.) There isn't much I care to add to what they gave us in the episode. (Although I desperately wanted to see Jim/Sheldon and Kaley/Penny acting their scene from Streetcar. Sadly it seems they chose to edit that out. I guess they thought it was too much for the universe to handle.) **

**This is not to "fix" 6.17 because it doesn't need fixing. This fic is merely inspired by 6.17, occurring in another space, another place, another dimension. **

**Only Penny. Only Sheldon.**

**This fic is dedicated to my fellow diehard Shenny fans who still believe in the magic. Each and every one of you makes writing for this fandom a pleasure.**

"_**The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars…" – Jack Kerouac**_

BURN

_They had given in to the pretense of their verbal sparring and now found themselves in his bed. Her nails forged a crimson trail along his alabaster skin as she drug her fingers down his back. He whispered soft words into her ear while he moved inside her as he loved her. She smiled against his chest as he attempted to control his primal aggression. It was this night that Penny and Sheldon found themselves falling into the other, finally giving way to their passion, allowing it to burn._

…

"You ego is huge," Penny seethed as she stormed into his apartment.

"And hello to you too, uninvited neighbor."

Sarcasm dripped thick like honey from the edges of his smirk.

"Where are the guys?"

"Out."

His one word answer sprayed fuel onto her already raging fire.

"You are such a pompous ass."

Sheldon raised his eyebrows at her in that infuriating way he always did, the way that she both loved and despised. She suspected he knew the effects it had on her. Through the years she had found herself constantly teetering on the brink of hating him and wanting to ravish him. On this night the teetering was harsh, demanding to be addressed.

Theirs was a visceral passion that had forever simmered unanswered just beneath the surface of the rawest parts of their minds. He had disciplined his affection for her and she had fought like hell to maintain a scrap of pride against her desire for him.

"Well thank you Penny. Now that you have identified and labeled my flawed personality, I shall retire for the evening. Please see yourself out."

"Wait a minute," the words hissed across her lips as she moved towards him, grabbing his forearm when she got close. "You can't come to my job and embarrass me in front of my coworkers and my boss and a bunch of customers and then just prance out of there leaving a path of destruction like a…a…super villain or something."

He turned to face her and spoke slowly, "Ah, but you are missing the point Penny. I was merely suggesting that you are better than what you allow yourself to be. You are spinning your wheels at that humiliating job of yours. I was attempting to point out that you are better than that. I was trying to express my…desire…for you to be the woman I know that you are capable of being. It appears I have failed."

"And why do you care?" she asked softly, her unanticipated query rendering him mute.

A familiar intimacy descended upon them. It came from years of struggling against their attraction to one another. She stared at him for a long, quiet moment and wondered how she was supposed to deal with someone whose main personality component was arrogance. While she silently contemplated this, he pondered over how he was supposed to react to someone who had consistently confused and captivated him since their first meeting. His denial of his feelings for her had been his only means of survival.

She heard her own voice whisper his name at the same time she felt him take her hand in his. He led her to his bedroom and she watched as he closed and locked the door. He pressed his back against the wall and held his trembling hands behind him, not wanting her to see his uncertainty and fear. But he knew, just as he always had, that he was hiding nothing from her.

"Penny."

He flawlessly enunciated her name to perfection and now felt as if it were the only word in his vocabulary.

Not knowing what else to do, she moved towards him. She felt his mouth grope hungrily for hers and she surrendered to his needs immediately. She finally spoke when they broke to gasp for air.

"You don't need women," she whispered up to him as to remind him of a long standing covenant he'd created for himself years ago.

"I need _you_," he confessed and laid his head back against the wall. He was aware that his desire for her was quickly obliterating his mind's will, however that was a battle he no longer cared to engage.

"I want you," she said as if she had shared this sentiment with him frequently. But they both knew it was the only time she'd spoken it aloud. She would later tell him that in the recesses of her mind, she had expressed this exact hunger for him over and over again.

He recalled them staggering across the floor and clothes coming off and the entanglement of limbs as skin met skin. His long held singularity dissolved as they melded together as one. He was hard and she was soft and they were…_right_. This was being a woman and a man. His mind sent up a mighty prayer that this was not a dream from which he would awaken…that this, in fact, would be their eternity.

She knew that when he touched her for the first time she had slipped from girlhood to womanhood at that precise moment. Nothing would ever exceed the new life he was breathing into her. His body spoke in ways his words were incapable of, convincing her of her value, her possibilities, her future to own. He made her stronger, she made him whole. With their love now honored, they could rule the world. They would be unstoppable.

He found it increasingly difficult to distinguish the part of himself that belonged to science and the part of himself that belonged to her. And she wished she could get back the years she had squandered rejecting every basic instinct she had known all along that she possessed towards this man.

"I've always loved you," she murmured into his ear and he felt the slight vibration of her vocals. He tried to tell her the same, over speaking as he was wont to do, making barely intelligible sentences, kissing her between phrases. When his thrusting became frenzied she was sure she heard him moan her name but her climax hit and she lost her ability to focus. He came hard, scooping his arms under her and lifting her body into his before finally lowering her gently back onto the sheets. Her legs trembled from having been wrapped around him so tightly. She reluctantly loosened them and then finally released the grasp she had on him, the backs of her calves bouncing as they hit the surface of the mattress below her.

Their stilled bodies laid in bed, holding hands and listening to the other breathe, wondering which lover would utter the first words. It was Sheldon who spoke.

"This is why I am here," he declared in a voice so low that it sent chills scurrying across her skin, "not to solve the mysteries of the universe after all, but to love you."

"Sheldon," she whispered, as he rolled towards her. He placed a long, lanky leg over hers and wrapped a possessive arm across her midsection. "I think…"

Her voice faltered, words seemingly not enough to convey her heart to him. For the first time since knowing him she would have given most anything to have his command of the English language.

"Penny," he said as his long fingers grazed across her abdomen and then worked their way upwards, "our bodies have spoken. Words are unnecessary at the moment."

She smiled and nodded at him, sighing as he traced the soft padding of his thumb across her lower lip. Their desperation to again satisfy the long denied demands of their bodies overtook the need for any conversation they intended to have. That would come later. For now, they simply burned.

…

_Penny to Sheldon in 5.19 – "Ohhh, burn!"_

_Sheldon to Penny in 5.24 – "You just got burned."_

_Bright. Relentless. Hot. Blinding._


End file.
